Contract Type: Fixed Term for 18 months, with potential for extension.
Working Pattern: Full Time, 37 hours per week.
Hybrid working arrangement; three days in the office (JWF office or Trinity School) and two days working remotely.
Providing programme, governance and operational support across John Whitgift Foundation and Trinity School
The John Whitgift Foundation is a long-established Croydon charity founded in 1596. It supports education and care across the local community. Today the Foundation operates two excellent independent schools and provides means-tested bursaries to enable children who could not otherwise attend our schools to do so. It also runs two care homes, as well as Almshouses and sheltered accommodation for roughly 100 residents.
Trinity School, part of the John Whitgift Foundation, is a leading independent school in Croydon. The school provides education for boys aged 10 to 16, with a co-educational Sixth Form introduced in 2011. From September 2027, the school is moving towards full co-education with girls entering the school in Year 6 and Year 7 for the first time. To prepare for this change, the school is focussing on its co-educational readiness through Trinity Project 2030. Project 2030 covers a variety of operational workstreams (e.g. admissions and marketing) as well as a significant capital build workstream to expand Trinity’s facilities over the next two years. There is established programme governance in place, along with a project team of consultants and contractors delivering the build workstream. The post will assist the implementation of this programme and support priorities across the foundation’s charitable impact.
About the Role
This is a great opportunity for an early career Project Manager to work across John Whitgift Foundation and Trinity School, support the delivery of key strategic projects, including Trinity School’s Project 2030, and the strengthening of the charity’s impact across communities.
The role will provide programme coordination, governance and performance support. It will assist effective decision-making and support the delivery of the Foundation’s strategic ambitions.
Whilst the proportion may vary depending on Trinity’s schedule (e.g. school holidays), it is expected that three days a week will be spent on Trinity School’s Project 2030, and two days for the Foundation to help further its effectiveness and positive charitable impact.
Key responsibilities
1) Foundation impact support
- Support the Foundation improve its understanding and articulation of its charitable impact across communities.
- Work with the Head of Impact to strengthen its approach to risk management and assurance.
- Support the development of the Foundation business planning capabilities and key performance framework, and act as a connector between schools, care homes and central functions to drive stronger impact evaluation.
- Lead on, and support, task‑and‑finish pieces – such as internal audits, deep dives and thematic strategic reviews.
2) Trinity Project 2030 delivery support
- Monitor the overall programme plan, including key milestones, timelines, dependencies and the critical path required to deliver programme outcomes.
- Work with workstream leads and external contractors and consultants to validate milestones, track delivery and identify programme risks.
- Develop reporting processes and maintain high quality project governance materials, to support clear decision-making across all relevant forums.
- Prepare papers and updates for key governance forums, including reporting against milestone delivery, risks and issues to the Project 2030 Governor Group and to the Foundation Court of Governors. Capture actions from these boards and drive follow-up and implementation.
- Provide ad hoc project delivery support to workstreams and support Trinity School’s Headmaster in his role as SRO.
- Coordinate key meetings with senior leaders and external partners to support timely progress and decision-making.
3) Operational and financial administration
- Monitor project expenditure with relevant colleagues and support oversight of spend against the agreed budget.
- Manage supplier on boarding and payment processes, raising purchase orders, tracking invoices and supporting timely payment.
- Monitor programme budget, checking change control requests for additional costs against agreed budgets and escalating issues as required.
4) Communication
- Work closely with colleagues to support the development of clear and effective internal and external messaging, including key messages, briefing lines and updates.
- Help shape staff engagement, working with the Foundation’s communication lead.
About You
The successful candidate will have the following;
Skills
- Degree or equivalent in a relevant field.
- Strong project management and organisational skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple workstreams, priorities and deadlines.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build constructive working relationships across Foundation, school and external delivery partners.
- Ability to work confidently with data, plans and performance information.
- Good written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare clear reports, briefing papers and updates for senior stakeholders.
- Good numerical and administrative skills, with the ability to track budgets, invoices and project-related expenditure accurately.
- Confidence in maintaining governance processes, tracking actions, and supporting effective decision-making.
- Ability to identify risks, maintain appropriate controls and mitigations.
Experience
- Experience of supporting change projects or programmes with multiple stakeholders and coordinating delivery of a complex project or programme.
- Experience of producing plans, reports, risk registers and progress updates.
- Familiarity with impact measurement, evaluation and outcomes frameworks
- Communications or staff engagement experience is desirable.
Personal qualities
- Proactive, delivery‑focused and pragmatic with sound judgement.
- Collaborative approach, with a willingness to support a broad range of project and operational activities.
- Methodical, organised and able to manage competing demands.
All our staff benefit from a competitive remuneration package, including:
- 25 days holiday plus bank holidays.
- Company Pension. This scheme includes 3 x salary life assurance cover.
- Membership of the Bupa cash plan scheme, which gives financial support towards the cost of optical, dental, and medical costs.
- Season ticket loan
The closing date for applications is 12 June 2026. The application window may close earlier than advertised if sufficient applications are received, therefore we encourage early applications.
Pay: From £35,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Croydon CR0 1LA
